1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to an improved data processing system. More particularly, the present invention relates to a computer-implemented method, apparatus, and computer program product for managing rejected messages.
2. Description of the Related Art
Modern computing technology has resulted in immensely complicated and ever-changing environments. The Internet is a global network of computers and networks joined together by means of gateways that handle data transfer and the conversion of messages from a protocol of the sending network to a protocol used by the receiving network. On the Internet, any computer may communicate with any other computer with information traveling over the Internet through a variety of languages, also referred to as protocols. The set of protocols used on the Internet is called transmission control protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP).
The Internet has revolutionized communications and commerce, as well as being a source of both information and entertainment. For many users, email is a widely used format to communicate over the Internet. The existence and continued acceptance and use of the Web and the Internet have resulted in many new and useful applications becoming available to users of the Internet. One useful and popular application that most everyone with access to the Internet uses is electronic mail (email). Email is an electronic message sent over connections between data processing systems on a network. Email allows for a method of personal communication without requiring face-to-face contact. An email account allows a user to communicate a message to an intended email recipient. This type of communication is available even if the recipient has a different service provider than the sender. Email is typically based on a standard communication protocol that allows the communication of messages between individuals that may have different service providers. Email allows communication across the different communication protocols using only the recipient's email address.
Many email servers maintain user space quotas. These quotas limit the amount of storage that a user is allowed to take up for storing email. For most businesses with large storage capacities and for individual users who typically receive very small email, this is not usually much of an issue. However, for the growing number of small businesses who are becoming more and more expected to handle email as part of their every day business, ensuring a constant “online” status while managing expenses can be a challenge. For example, most customers now expect everyone from their lawn service provider to bakery to have a website and/or email contact information.
These companies cannot afford in-house email servers or expensive large quotas or backup systems. Typically, these companies provide their customers with email addresses or personal Internet access accounts from free online services, such as Yahoo® or Hotmail®. Free email services provide base-level access but often set limits on memory space or other quotas.
The problem for an organization, such as a business, is that the employees do not have consistent or predictable email access. The employees are engaged in producing or delivering products or providing the service of the company, such as baking cakes, making deliveries, framing houses, landscaping yards, and the like. As a result, large emails may push a user past a designated quota, resulting in the email to the account being blocked for hours or even days. Similarly, the employee or owner may not notice that emails from customers or potential customers are being bounced back and not reaching the employee or owner. As a result, customers may be expecting an answer or feel they have wasted their time, and some of the customers and potential customers may take their business elsewhere. At the very least, un-received messages portray the business in a negative light with respect to responsiveness.